Preferring Superstition

At coffee this morning one of the guys remembered the scene in Caddy Shack where the old preacher is on the 18th hole of the best golf game in his life.  He putts, misses and says something bad about God.  Lightning strikes.  He dies.  

I’ve been wondering about people (including myself) who prefer superstition to clear thinking.  The idea that God might care about the outcome of a golf game, and not care about the deaths and disaster in Japan during and following the tsunami is exaggerated superstition.  Granted, such warped thinking is promoted and pandered to by hundreds of TV “christian” speakers, but what makes it easy to sell is the way you and I fail to think about big issues.  

I don‘t mean our failure to factor in victims of the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent events.  I mean our failure to factor in the ways greedy manipulators screw over the world economy, the ways natural disasters destroy villages, cities and populations with no tears shed that we can see by any god.  I meaan our usual gratitude that we escaped a disaster again when others were crushed.  Our kids are doing well while other kids are shot in drive-by violence, an so forth.  

We know that the planet earth is not the center of our solar system, but continue to believe that we are the center of the universe.  

When I think of our superstitions, I don’t just mean the teachings of all major religions.  I mean the insanities we try to rationalize nearly every day no different than being careful not to step on a crack for fear of breaking our mother’s back.

What do you think?  Share your thoughts with us.